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'1. A. LOVEGRAFT. REGISTRY STAMP.

No. 480,819. Patented Aug. 16, 1892.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK A. LdVECRAFT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

REGlSTRY-STAM P.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 480,819, dated August 16, 1892.

Application filed May 2, 1891. Serial No. 398,371. (No specimens.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK A. LOVE- oRAFT, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Registry-Stamps, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has for its object to avoid the trouble and loss of time connected with the ordinary method of registering letters; and to this end my invention consists of a special registry-stamp having a number or other mark or indicator thereon to enable the officials at the mailing-office to know the address of the sender without the necessity of a special visit by the sender or his representative upon the mailing of each letter.

To register a letter in the ordinary manner, the sender must visit the mailing-office, pay the registry-fee, give his address, and apply the proper stamps, and such letter with aproperly-filled-out blank indicating the name and address of the sender is forwarded to the receiving-office at the place indicated by the address upon the letter, and the officials at such receiving-office notify the party to whom the letter is addressed, which party calls at the receiving-office, and signs the proper receipt, or if the letter is delivered by the carrier the latter obtains the proper receipt, which receipt is forwarded direct to the sender. The necessity of visiting the mailing-office with each letter thatis to be registered and forwarded is often a serious obstacle in the way of mailing letters under the registry system, and to avoid this objection I provide a stamp A, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which stamp, in addition to such ornamentation and descriptive matter as may be requiredto prevent counterfeiting and for identification, is provided with a number or letter or with both or any other indicating sign or mark corresponding to a similar number or indicator upon a stub or in a book kept at the mailingoffice. For instance, as shown in the drawing, there is kept at the mailing-ofiicea book havlnga series of leaves B, each divided into a series of coupons 0 and separable stamps A, one of each coupon, and the number or indicator upon each stamp corresponds to a similar number upon the coupon to which it is attached, and upon said coupon is a space in which to Write the name and address of the purchaser of the stamp.

Upon one or more stamps being purchased by a clerk or any one authorized the name and residence of the purchaser are entered upon the corresponding coupon, and the stamp is subsequently applied to a letter, which is deposited either in the mailing-office or in any collecting-box, with the ordinary mailingstamp in addition to the registry-stamp, and upon its receipt at the mailing-office the stamp from the letter is compared with the couponbook, from which the address of the senderis obtained, and the proper blank is then made out and the letter forwarded to its destination, where it is delivered and a receipt obtained and returned, as is usual in connection with ordinary registered letters, as above described.

Where large numbers of registered letters are mailed from one address, the registrybooks maybe provided with a series of separable stamps connected with a single coupon and all bearing the same number or indicator.

WVithout limiting myself to the form or ornamentation of the stamp or to the use of an indicator of any special character, I claim A registry-letter stamp provided with a number or indicator and detachably connected with a stub, bound together with others, and having a like number or indicator and a space for the name of the purchaser,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

FREDERICK A. LOVECRAFT.

Witnesses:

JOHN W. TOTTEN, HENRY WINANS. 

